Improvement in hatchway-guards



J. WAY LAND.

Hatchway -fiuards. w I

No.l53,1 35'. Patentedluly14,i874.

" zaewes: 4% I UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JAMES WAYLAND, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN HATCHWAY-GUARD S.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 153,] 35, dated July 1-1, 1874; application filed December 29, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WAYLAND, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented Improvements in the means of operating Safety-Guards for Hatchways, of which the following is a specification:

I The object of this invention is to obtain a simple and reliable means for operating safety-guards of. hatchways, whether a hatch covering the hatchway or a swinging gate precluding access to it; and to this end the invention consists in a cord or chain which is fastened to the outer -part of the hatch, or to a rail of the gate some little distance from its fulcrum, and passes thence over pulley s to the free end of a lever pivoted to some suitable support to swing freely, and to protrude into the hatchway when in its normal position, so that a rail or bar provided on the elevatorcar will push it aside as the car approaches the hatchways, causing the lever to pull the cord attached to it, and raise the hatch or gate at the proper time to enable passengers or goods to be delivered. The weight of the hatch or gate, assisted by a light spring, will cause it to close again, and the lever will swing out into the hatchway again to remain till the car approaches again. The simplicity of this means of operating safety-guards, and its reliability, cannot be surpassed, as there are few parts to get out of order, and if anything should, by any possibility, be broken, the safety-guard will cover the hatchway immediately.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a sectional .view representing a portion of a hatchway, showing the car approaching the guard-operating lever. Fig. 2 is a view taken at right angles to Fig. 1, representing the car in the same. position. Fig. 3 is a view taken from the opposite side to Fig. 1, showing the car in contact with the lever, and in the act of raising the guard.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A A indicate the guide-posts of the hatchway, and B designates the elevator car, which is raised and lowered, in the usual way, by a hoisting rope, C. The safetyguards employed may be either automatic hatches coxt -iring the openings in the several floors in the building, or swinging gates controlling access to such openings. In the drawing a gate is shown, wherefore the description will be confined to gates. A railing extends around three sides of the opening in the floor, and the other side is protected by a gate which consists of two parallel rails, D l), which are pivoted to one of the guide-posts A, and are connected by short rails E E, which are fastened to the aforesaid rails D D by pivots, so that they can swing up, as shown in Fig. 3. The outer ends of these rails rest in crotches or supports provided on the opposite post of the railing when the gate is closed. G is a bent lever, which is pivoted to the in ner side of one of the posts in such position that its rounded bent portion will protrude into the hatchway when the lever is in its normal position. The free end of this lever is connected with the upper rail D of the gate some little distance from its fulcrumor pivot, by a cord, I, which passes through the intervening guide-post around pulleys a b c. On the frame of the car B there is a rail or bar, K, which bends inward toward its upper end to enable it .to come in front of the protrudin g face of the lever Gr. As the car in ascending approaches the opening in any floor of the building, this rail comes in contact with the lever G, and, pushing it out of the way, causes it to pull the cord I, and raises the gate so that passengers or goods may be landed when the car comes opposite the floor. As soon as the car passes beyond the lever it swings out into the hatchway again in position to be reoperated by the car in its descent, and allows the gate to close, which is occasioned by its 'own weight. In descending, the car pushes the lever aside in the same way, and raises the gate again, and the gate closes in the same manner as the car recedes below it. The rail on the car does not need to be bent inward at the lower end, because the face of the lever as presented to the car in its descent is not nearly so abrupt as that presented to it in its ascent. A spring, S, on the guide-post to which the gate is pivoted, gives impulse to the gate to start its descent, which continues by reason of its weight.

Instead of attaching the cord to the rail of the gate beyond the fulcrum, as shown in the drawing, itmay be attached to it on the fore side of the fulcrum, but in that case another pulley would be needed on the guide-post, as the pull would necessarily be upward in this case, instead of downward, as in the other.

When a hatch is used instead of the gate, the cord will be attached to its outer portion.

It will be necessary, in practice, to employ anti friction rollers, one on the protruding portion of the lever, and another at the bottom of the face or rail K of the car that actuates the lever.

1 do not claim operating the gate of a hatchway by means of a cam which is connected di rectly with the gate, so that when said cam is acted on by the carriage it will elevate the gate, for such is not my invention, which con- 1 sists solely in the construction and arrangement of the swinging curvedlever, the cord and pulleys, as pointed out in'the claim.

What I claim as my invention is-- l The curved lever G, pivoted at one end to the post A of the elevator, to protrude over the hatchway, and be operated by the curved bar K in the ascent of the carriage, and connected at its other end to the rope I, which passes through the post A over the pulleys b 0, and connected with an extension of the top rail of the gate, for raising and lowering the same, all constructed and arranged substan tially as described. I JAMES WAYLAND.

Vitnesses lVIIGHAEL RYAN, FRED. HAYNES. 

